Remembering Bruce Lee

On this day back in 1973 Bruce Lee, the greatest martial arts icon of them all, died at the shockingly young age of 32. Tragically, after a string of Hong Kong movies - Lo Wei's The Big Boss in 1971, my personal favourite, Fist of Fury the following year, and his self-written and directed Way of the Dragon (also 1972) - at the time of his death he was on the edge of finally enjoying global super-stardom with the Warner Brothers' produced Enter the Dragon, the last movie he would complete in his lifetime.

I picked up this 6 inch Bruce Lee action figure in a bargain bucket many years ago. He was in a terrible state – extremely grubby and a little sticky to touch – but I'm such a huge Lee fan that I couldn't resist buying him all the same. You can check out the clean-up operation on this figure in my Squidoo guide: How to clean vintage action figures.

The likeness to Bruce Lee is excellent and the pose perfectly captures him in a clenched-fist Fist of Fury pose. I love the open mouth on this figure too as if he is emitting one of his trademark shrieks!